EDITORIAL Stepping Away from Scandal

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Stepping Away from Scandal


A number of highly-publicized episodes this summer revealed that throughout much of the 1990s the net of corporate malfeasance was cast far and wide. From GE's Jack Welch to Adelphia's John Rigas, chiefs of some of America's biggest businesses were indicted and arrested on charges of fraud, embezzlement and insider trading.
Middlebury College risks becoming ensnared in this net of corporate wrongdoing if it does not move quicker to distance itself from another infamous former CEO, Dennis Kozlowski. Kozlowski, a Middlebury trustee and parent of two alumnae, was indicted in June of robbing his company, Tyco International, of some $600 million dollars. Most of this money Kozlowski lavished upon himself and his family, building a sizable house on the Florida coast and chartering his wife around Italy's Sardinian Islands on a multi-million dollar birthday extravaganza.
The College thus far has declined to comment on how much Kozlowski has given since his affiliation with Middlebury began in the late 1990s. Members of the administration have admitted, however, that the former Tyco chief has contributed generously to Middlebury. This fact will, in the weeks to come, breed further speculation and hearsay about the extent of Kozlowski's giving to Middlebury. Speculation can be damaging, and will ultimately cause the Middlebury community — and, inevitably, as more details of Kozlowski's misdeeds are disclosed, the broader public — to call into question the nature of the former CEO's financial relationship with the College.
Such negative attention inside and outside College boundaries could hinder Middlebury's efforts to raise more money in what is undoubtedly a precarious enough time for large not-for-profit institutions like ours. It will also complicate the ability of the Board of Trustees to deliberate convincingly on matters of critical importance to the College in this period of expansion and change.
There is a simple way to alleviate these potentially damaging effects of Kozlowski's affiliation with the College: call for his immediate resignation from the Board of Trustees. Kozlowski has already stepped down from the board of trustees at his alma mater Seton Hall. There is no better time than now to beat him to the punch and remove him from the Middlebury Board of Trustees.